THE EDGE: The Edge previews the England v India 5th Test with a recommended Betdaq bet.
England v India 5th Test
MATCH OVERVIEW:
England and India move onto the 5th Test on Thursday, and once again we should have plenty of drama. Despite the draw collecting in the 4th Test, we had a tonne of market movement on Betdaq Betting Exchange as India battled for a draw. Of course, we couldn’t go through the Test without some form of needle and drama between the sides – that came in the final session with Ben Stokes offering handshakes early and India rejecting the offer with both batters set for centuries. There was naturally a bit of a blow-up around that; I feel India were within their rights to let the two batters get to a 100 – equally this Test backs-up quite quickly and it was no harm working the England bowlers into the ground. It was that classic, do what your opponent least wants you to do!
Despite that drama, England come to the Oval in a good place. They have a 2-1 lead and their batting has been superb – they only had to bat once in the 4th Test and went big – Joe Root breaking all sorts of records along the way. India have done well to live with Bazball right throughout the series; they have been outplayed at times of course, but they did dominate the 2nd Test and they got themselves into a winning position in the 3rd Test too before failing to chase 192. You could easily make the argument that a series draw would be a fitting result to be honest, even if England would argue that.
Once again, this should be a cracking Test. Both sides have their flaws, but they also have so much talent it only takes one star performance to put either side in a winning position. From an England point of view, the worry has to be their bowling attacking given how well they’ve been batting. I suppose you could say the same thing about India after conceding 669 runs at Old Trafford!
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
The Oval is generally regarded as a superb place to bat. It’s very high scoring in one day cricket. We saw an exceptionally high scoring County Championship game here recently too – Surrey scored 820/9 in late June – no surprise that game finished with a draw! In Test cricket, it has been a result venue recently – only one draw since 2008 and they’ve hosted 17 Tests in that time. The last 11 Tests have had a result here, and they’ve hosted all the big sides too – Ashes Tests, India and South Africa. At the time of writing a few days before the Test, there is some rain forecast over the first few days but the temperature is high so it’ll just be a case of radar watching to see what impact the weather might have.
RECOMMENDED BET:
The 4th Test was a very natural draw – the rain didn’t have an impact and it was only a very rare Bazball draw. Both sides were clearly stronger with the bat than with the ball, and that is a slight worry coming into this Test given we should have good batting conditions. The draw is trading 4.3 and while we’ve had some big prices this Test series, it’s not a surprise to see the draw in the mix here. England look a little short at 2.04 in my opinion, and then you have India trading 3.5. I really feel that there isn’t much between the sides here; I felt India offered the value in the 4th Test and while England were the only likely winners, India batted pretty well to get the draw. With the batting conditions good here, I do feel the draw is worth a small investment at 4.3, despite Bazball!
The Edge Says: One point win Draw at 4.3 with BETDAQ Betting Exchange.
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/5thEnIn
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
I highlighted above the need to watch the radar over the first three days and see how that develops. Obviously things can change quickly with a weather forecast in England, and the high temperature might see us get no rain at all too. You’d have to be worried about both sides with the ball given the good batting conditions at the Oval and the struggle for wickets in the 4th Test. Apart from a few sessions, the batters have done pretty well overall in this series. I’d be keen to support both sides when batting to be honest, and I can see the draw trading short at some stage – if not winning.
